Social media for peace: Bringing local knowledge to content moderation can support resilient societies

Local coalitions on freedom of expression and content moderation could play a key role in supporting expression online, mitigating risks arising from content moderation on social media, and contributing to redressing the imbalance between global tech companies and local communities, new reports by ARTICLE 19 reveal. 

The reports, part of UNESCO’s Social Media for Peace project funded by the European Union, call for the establishment of such coalitions to foster local engagement with social media companies and to tackle problems resulting from content moderation decisions regarding online disinformation and speech that incites to hatred and discrimination. These coalitions could also enable local civil society organisations to provide platforms with the knowledge of the local context, essential for accurate and effective content moderation at a local level. 

Research was carried out in three target countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Indonesia, and Kenya. In all three countries, inadequate content moderation risks jeopardising peace and reconciliation processes and further fuelling societal tensions. 

Interviews with local civil society actors, media, activists and academics revealed overwhelming support for the establishment of the local coalitions.

Commenting on the call to create local coalitions, Pierre François Docquir, Head of Media Freedom at ARTICLE 19, said: 

“It is painfully clear that the current global content moderation practices are woefully inadequate in dealing with the myriad of issues faced around the world. This is particularly in post-conflict societies, where peace and democracy are still fragile. The decisions, most often conducted automatically by algorithms, should be informed by a proper understanding of the nuances of local languages and the complexity of the local contexts in their cultural, social, historical and political dimensions.

“For some time now at ARTICLE 19 we have been looking at the idea of Social Media Councils - multi-stakeholder entities which would bring together various local actors and social media companies at the national level, to ensure proper local input in the shaping of policies and the oversight of content moderation decisions.